Hi everyone! =) I've been researching various media players trying to find one I want to buy after my Sansa e200 (which I now know buying wasn't the best idea...) broke, and Sandisk never sent me my promised return label to ship it back and get a new one.

Anyway, I've been comparing features and options etc. etc. and the Creative Zen 4GB sounds just perfect for me, but as I've been reading reviews it seems a fair number of people have reported instances where right out of the box the Zen didn't work! And even after exchanging it for a new one, THAT one broke quickly also.

I've seen a couple people say this is probably because a bad batch of Zen's are circulating in the market which sounds reasonable because all the reports I've seen seem to be between mid-December to the end of January.

Finally (my actual question haha) about how long do you think it takes for the bad batch to get out of circulation, and do you think it's safe to make a try at buying one now? After my last experience I'm overly paranoid about this ^^;!

I'm on the same boat as you are, except I ****ing loved my rockboxed e200.

I've been doing a lot of reasearch, and completely ruled out the Zen (based on my needs). I've read a lot of reports about the firmwire on the Zen being super unstable (for now, eventually they'll become stable), but currently it's unstable. No support for text files, no ums, file folder browsing, no otg deleting, and a bunch of other things. So far I have my eyes on the Cowon D2.

I have a Zen and I think the latest firmware is actually very stable. I've never had to use the reset button since the firmware-update, where I occasionally did have to with previous firmwares.

And you can delete songs on the go.

I think it's pretty safe to buy a Zen now. You should know that people who have problems with their Zen will more likely post in forums such as this one than people whose Zen works perfectly. So I think the chance of a dead player out of the box is reasonably small.

Hi everyone! =) I've been researching various media players trying to find one I want to buy after my Sansa e200 (which I now know buying wasn't the best idea...) broke, and Sandisk never sent me my promised return label to ship it back and get a new one.

Anyway, I've been comparing features and options etc. etc. and the Creative Zen 4GB sounds just perfect for me, but as I've been reading reviews it seems a fair number of people have reported instances where right out of the box the Zen didn't work! And even after exchanging it for a new one, THAT one broke quickly also.

I've seen a couple people say this is probably because a bad batch of Zen's are circulating in the market which sounds reasonable because all the reports I've seen seem to be between mid-December to the end of January.

Finally (my actual question haha) about how long do you think it takes for the bad batch to get out of circulation, and do you think it's safe to make a try at buying one now? After my last experience I'm overly paranoid about this ^^;!

Thanks to anyone who answers!

Welcome fellow Buckeye! If you like the Zen and would like to own one, buy it. The latest firmware will give you a pretty good and stable player. If not, you can always return it. I have had mine for 3 months and only had it lock up on me once or twice. Love it!

i have my zen and so far i think its great. there has been once where i had to use the reset button though. look at the bright side, at least it has a reset button! i wouldnt avoid the zen because of the 'bad batches' because you can always return it. the only reason to NOT get a zen is if it doesnt support your needs, like Child Of Bodom

Somewhere around end of 2007 year many people complained about White Screen of Death issue and connected this behavior with new firmware (which is untrue, the rest of users had never such problems). There were even more complains about it just after xmas. Faulty batch is of course a rumor, but very probable. There were too many bad players in the same time and same stores.

Bought mine in November. I'm a light user and haven't used the SD much except to store a few large video files mostly as a test. Only issue I've had with mine is a half dozen or less times I've got it in a "white-screen" state where the player works but the display doesn't want to work. Fiddling with poweroff and back on has corrected it, hasn't happened in a couple weeks probably.

I can delete on the go. I've never used the reset. File folder browsing is only on the SD -- so if you keep less often used stuff, things you prefer to manually sort, or large videos on that, I think it's a non-issue.

So, even though I bought at the height of the complaints, I've been happy with mine. I say pull the trigger, and just do it from someplace reputable that will accept a return if you're not happy.